Apples and Deduction
by Rhapsidiast
Summary: Just a very short, sweet piece between Watson and Holmes. It's one of the small happy moments they share in their lodgings down at Baker Street, and Holmes seemed to be awfully excited over... a bitten apple. How would Watson react?


**A/N:** I wrote this ages ago, back when I still used the account Zantetsuken-Steel Bladed Sword, but I thought I might as well put it up here again, for the umpteenth time, for readers to read. The scene didn't fit well with my other fics so I turned it into a one-shot. It's just a small funny scene between Holmes and Watson and is, I shall admit, one of my best little fics. The old ones I wrote were just really shocking (in the sense that I am quite ashamed of them) but I am improving as I go on. Constructive criticisms and comments are welcome. There might be a few grammatical mistakes, I expect. Enjoy:

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Another day passed and the sighing of the wind grew softer, dividing itself among the corridors of the fresh London day, unnoticed by anyone but the homeless in the slums. Sitting down on an armchair in a lodge in Baker Street, a retired medical doctor puffed with his cigar, a fountain pen in his right hand, which rested on his open notebook, his eyes dreamy and faraway. Not far from him, a consulting detective stood with his back bowed down at the chemistry desk, examining pieces of evidences from his most recent case. Both worked silently on their business and not one of them made a remark to the other.

For hours, stillness remained in those rooms. One could probably say that both were playing a game of silence for they usually talked even when one was not troubled with the other. While the first was concerned with ideas to start an account, the other was finding the right future evidence to place another inside bars – yet, both seemed to get along well despite their obvious dissimilarities. One was cold, the other warm-hearted. One was handsome, yet another charming. Yet, one could also easily say not to judge them by how they appear and by what they had experienced, but for who they were, deep inside.

The silence between the two broke as the detective sprang up with a cry of "Eureka!", surprising his friend from his trance. Sherlock Holmes took the piece of evidence, (a half-eaten apple), and held it high to the light as though it was a precious little thing by a magician, his eyes shining with delight and his face formed into a satisfied smile. "I found it! I found it!"

The doctor, on the other hand, had a very annoyed expression spread onto his face. The cry interrupted his train of thought and all ideas on the account he was about to write vanished. Crossing his arms and leaning back, Watson arched an eyebrow at his friend with a twisted smile on his lips. "Pray tell, Holmes; why the sudden cry?"

"My dear fellow, I have finally managed to pinpoint the _exact_ time on which the murderer, Mr. Kiels, had been sitting before he murdered his friend," he said enthusiastically, not at all aware of the good doctor's annoyance.

"Indeed," Watson answered. "Holmes, might I remind you that you solved the case _three days ago?_"

"Phsaw, Watson. Cheer up, now, will you? This little apple might be the key to all other future cases. Take a note, my man! I shall write a monograph on it."

"And precisely what have you discovered which is so important to a solved case?"

"Why, the time! A bitten apple can tell the time in which crime has been committed, note that."

"You confirmed that the murderer has been eating the apple by the tooth marks," Watson remarked.

"Precisely, but one needs_ good, solid evidence_ to solve a case!" Holmes replied, unaware of the point, which the doctor was trying to make. "See here, my dear fellow," he said, jumping on his armchair with the bitten apple still in his hands. "An apple, when cut, is always white. A _bitten_ apple, however, will eventually turn itself to have a reddish brown tint on the surface if you leave it. It's pretty obvious that different apples brown itself at different paces and, always, it begins at the very core of the fruit. It's one of the little peculiarities which one doesn't notice – like the police – but is extremely useful for a fellow like myself," he said blandly.

"This apple I have in my hand is a russet which will brown very quickly and judging by the brown tint we found at the scene of the crime, I can tell that it has been left an hour before the murder time. An apple like this usually takes twenty to thirty minutes to brown from the core and then it browns for about a quarter of an hour in other places. Hence, the time of the murder!"

The doctor made no reply, his face twisted as he tried not to laugh. The pressure was too much for him, however, and he burst into fits of amusement upon his friend's ridiculous enthusiasm over a bitten apple. Sherlock Holmes immediately saw the delight of the doctor and joined the laugh, shaking his head with a smile as they finished.

"My dear Holmes, you are to be congratulated for all this, but really, you _did_ solve the case by measuring the tooth marks," Watson chuckled. "Nevertheless, it's one of your little peculiarities and I'm sure you will bring the knowledge to the end of your career."

"Of course."


End file.
